Tuesday, July 12-Wednesday, July 13: Back in Zagreb!
Tuesday, July 12
We left Pazin late in the morning around 10:30am. Before checking out, I spent a good half hour cleaning blood stains off the floor where Steven left footprints. Yup, he's still bleeding!
The drive back to Zagreb had us going back through Rijeka and then across the Učka mountain range. We went through a series of short and long tunnels pretty much all the way until we got to Zagreb county. Our top speed for most of the trip was 110km/hr (68mph), whereas most of the highways in Zagreb, Zagorje, and Slavonija max out at 130km/hr (~81mph). It took us 2 2/12 hours to reach our last AirBnB where Carol had already checked in two days earlier.
This last apartment where we're staying is awesome. It's more like a hotel suite than an apartment rental. The host Ana has decorated it rather tastefully and coordinated everything down to the towels and paper napkins. There are quirks though. She insists on following Zagreb's rather ambitious but inconsistently followed recycling rules, but she doesn't have the requisite five different garbage pails for each type of waste. Still, as you can see in the listing (above link), it's rather modern and spacious for the three of us.
Steven as per usual parked himself on the couch, while Carol and I headed out to Mirogoj, Zagreb's and Croatia's largest cemetery. For Carol, it's just another excursion in support of research for her book; for me, it's the very first time I've visited it despite coming to Zagreb many times in the 1980s. We caught the No. 6 tram from our apartment to Trg Jelačića, and then the 106 bus from Kaptol, up by the Cathedral.
On getting off at the stop, you could already see the damage done by the earthquake that hit this region back in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. The main "reception" buildings are a tribute to the pantheon of Croatia's culturally most famous and politically most prominent citizens. [Note to self: Vjekoslav and Nada Klaić are in the main building. Both were prominent historians whose works I read back in grad school.] Designed by Hermann Bollé, the prestigious Austro-Hungarian French-German architect (that's a mouthful), it's considered a masterpiece of funereal architectural achievement. He not only designed the cemetery, but also the cathedral down in Kaptol. Sadly, both sustained much damage from the earthquake, or rather earthquakes, over the years.
For Carol and me, name-checking the famous dead is a kind of perverse thrill. Moreover, it was fun hearing Carol explain the nuanced characteristics of headstones. We happened to enter at the Jewish part of the cemetery. Headstones here typically had some Hebrew written at the top; the names of families were in German, Hungarian, and of course Croatian. The Jewish community here is a tiny fraction of what it used to be in the nineteenth century for first-half-of-the-twentieth-century reasons.
We also chanced upon a section dedicated to fallen Partisan soldiers. Then unexpectedly monuments to those soldiers who fought alongside the Ustaše in World War 2. There were monuments to World War I soldiers, erected later after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in the 1990s. So many, many monuments! I've listed out several below.
It had started to rain just as we got to Mirogoj, and instantly, mosquitoes popped out all over the place, swarming immediately around my legs. Carol did not get one mosquito bite; I got dozens. Though the sun had come out about an hour or so later, they were still tormenting me so much, I had to get out of there! The bus came minutes after we left the cemetery and took us back down to Kaptol.
We decided to stop into a pharmacy across Dolac market so that I could get some itch creme. Although I explained to the pharmacist what I was looking for, she nevertheless seemed perplexed as to why. (Pharmacists generally ask probing questions here, as they are the first line of defense in the medical establishment.) Carol said in Croatian ("just look at his legs"), and she got it. They were all streaked with blood from where I had scratched the bites. She suggested I get some Claritin and an antiseptic spray to prevent infections from all those scratch marks. What I find so sensible about pharmacies here is that many of them encourage you to take the first dose right in the store, providing a water cooler to do just that. By the way, Claritin did the trick.
As it was late in the afternoon by the time we got to Trg Jelačića, we nixed going to a book store and went on back to the apartment. I was feeling guilty and anxious about leaving Steven all alone there, and anyway the fatiguing long drive was beginning to get to me. We picked up some terrific sandwiches at the Dubravica bakery, and wine and beer at the corner hole-in-the-wall market down the street from the apartment. After our nice little indoor picnic, we settled in to watch the January 6th hearings on PBS through Carol's laptop. What a delightful end to the day! Nothing feels more acclimating back to the US then a Congressional hearing on the attempted overthrow of American democracy. I couldn't take more than an hour and half before I went to bed. Evidently, I missed the juicy bits....
Wednesday, July 13
I'm getting used to rising late in the morning. For those of you who know me, I usually get up around 4:00am and in the summer around 6. Here, I'm dragging my butt out of bed around 8:30am. Carol got up a half hour after I did. After breakfast, she started packing for her trip back and the continuation of even MORE travel in the northeast for another week or so. We agreed I would summon an Uber for her, and she would pay me back in kuna since we'll be here one more day, and she has to get rid of it. (The Croats are switching to the euro in January, and it is highly unlikely she'll be back to spend the rest before then.)
As I could not remember exactly the procedure for returning our rental car, I tried several times calling the customer service number the agent gave me two and half weeks earlier to no avail. I've been getting anxious about returning the car, especially since I managed to get a couple dings and scrapes in from trying to park in these weird parking spots all through the country. Moreover, as I explained earlier, the infotainment system in the car never worked properly, and I wanted to ensure we weren't blamed for it. Since I wasn't getting anywhere with customer service, I decided to join Carol in her Uber out to the airport. Besides, I wanted to find out about getting Steven a wheelchair so that he could avoid as much walking as possible through the airport.
The information desk told me I had to arrange the wheelchair with the airlines, and the OKMobility agent apprised me of what I need to do tomorrow to check in the car. (I know this sounds really hyper, but it's not written down anywhere, and I was kind of a mess when we picked up the car after our flights here.) Knowledge gained, I returned back to Zagreb by Uber, stopping at the bookstore Carol had suggested I visit. I didn't find the history of Dalmatia I was looking for despite the kind assistance of the bookstore clerks, but I did spot a History of Antisemitism in Zagreb that I may order once I get home. The book is so large--speaking volumes about the issue (no pun intended)--that I knew it wouldn't fit in my carry-ons.
[By the way, I know some of these entries are really mundane, many intentionally so. I'm using this blog not only to fill all of you in on our adventures, but also to jog my memory with details I'll be able to use for planning our next trip or simply recalling the day-to-day experiences we had.]
I picked up some lunch for Steven and me on the way home at Dubravica. But just before we ate, I tried checking us in online with British Airlines. What a Catch-22! The system won't let me get the boarding pass unless I post documents proving COVID-19 vaccination through a third-party app called VeriFly. But VeriFly indicates that COVID-19 vax proof isn't necessary anymore and won't let me upload the documents. Consequently, I can't check-in online! As a result, I can't specify a wheelchair for Steven in advance of our arrival at the airport. After several very frustrating attempts, I just threw in the towel. We'll have to do all that tomorrow when we get to the airport, now three hours before our departure. Ugh!
* * * * *
Well, my tedious rants and dog-and-pony stories have come to an end. This is likely my last entry for the trip. It's now around 4:00pm. I'm thinking about heading down to the taproom at the Ožujsko brewery less than two blocks from the apartment. I tell myself that it will also help Steven if I go now, as someone needs to pick up a bottle of wine for him for this evening, right?!
[Update: I'm here at Grif microbrewery around the corner from the apartment. I had run into Ana, our host, as I was going out and she recommended this place. It's awesome! Great food. I got the pulled pork. It came with a bun I had never seen before. (See below.) The pilsner is excellent.]
Anyway, that's been our trip. Hope to see or talk to all of you soon. Bok! Zdravo! Ciao! Do viđenja!
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